Tuesdays in the summer are slow. In the south, we’re on the cusp of a heat wave which means that though the temperature at noon is a balmy 90°, it only feels like 97° with our low 51% humidity. That will all change in the next few days when all of those numbers will increase. As much as I’ve always considered myself an outdoor person, summers like these compel me indoors – lots of time to work on editing and art, all of which have already taken a decent step forward this year.

I can’t wait to see The Big Sick in theaters. It was written and stars Kumail Nanjiani, one of my favorite comedians (co-writer Emily V. Gordon also happens to be his wife) and is based on their true story, wherein Emily fell seriously ill just months into dating. It’s been getting a fair amount of hype and since my last trip to the movies was kind of a bust (Baby Driver), I’ve got high hopes. Last Thursday, I got to see Roxane Gay in conversation with Ann Patchett in Nashville. Both are two of my favorite writers, and the former was in town to talk about her memoir: Hunger: A Memoir of My Body. Gay is such a prolific and important author, in that she writes plainly and smartly about the way we live, and the conversation was the kind of dreams. It’s a powerful book and a solid must-read.

A few years ago, I got a Sprocket Rocket camera as a gift and since I was moving at the time, it got packed away and forgotten. My boyfriend and I recently found it and have been playing around with the “world’s first panoramic wide-angle 35mm camera dedicated to sprockets” – sprockets are the holes at the edge of the negatives. Usually, cameras cut off to avoid the sprockets but this one includes them in the print – it also has a reverse gear, so you can go back and play with the textures in each photo.

So that was an example of us finding something we had but didn’t know we had – which I hate. In the past few years, I’ve tried to slow down on collecting material things. When I moved into a 500 square foot apartment, that became a little easier because I had no room. That said, you’d be surprised. When I moved in with my boyfriend after living in that apartment for two years, I was sad to see how much I managed to collect even in the small space. You make space, people. That said, the desire to cut down on those things didn’t go away and I’ve been fascinated by living a more minimalistic lifestyle. The best place for me to start was my closest – I became a quick follower of capsule wardrobes via blogs Un-Fancy, Style Bee, and the book, Anuschka Rees’ The Curated Closet.It’s not an easy transition, but I’ve been doing my first 10×10 Wardrobe challenge this week and it’s a revelation.